Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022)
Obeisance to the Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022) whom I consider as one of my spiritual teachers. His works introduced me to mindful walking, mindful thinking and how to live mindfully in my day to day life. What better way to pay my deepest admiration and reverence than with his own words.
Thay On Death
“Even when the cloud is not there, it continues as snow or rain. It is impossible for the cloud to die. It can become rain or ice, but it cannot become nothing. The cloud does not need to have a soul in order to continue. There’s no beginning and no end. I will never die. There will be a dissolution of this body, but that does not mean my death.
I will continue, always.”
Excerpts from the book, No Death, No Fear (2003):
“Walking slowly in the moonlight through the rows of tea plants, I noticed my mother was still with me. She was the moonlight caressing me as she had done so often, very tender, very sweet… wonderful! Each time my feet touched the earth I knew my mother was there with me. I knew this body was not mine alone but a living continuation of my mother and my father and my grandparents and great-grandparents. Of all my ancestors. These feet that I saw as ‘my’ feet were actually ‘our’ feet. Together my mother and I were leaving footprints in the damp soil.”
“Looking deeply into the flower, we see that the flower is made of non-flower elements. We describe the flower as being full of everything. There is nothing that is not present in the flower. We see sunshine, we see the rain, we see clouds, we see the earth, and we also see time and space in the flower. A flower, like everything else, is made entirely of non-flower elements. The whole cosmos has come together in order to help the flower manifest herself. The flower is full of everything except one thing: a separate self, a separate identity.”
Jennifer D. Diamond
Beautiful, Madhu! Thank you for sharing.
Madhu B. Wangu
Thank you for your support, Jennifer!